


You've got mail!

by yawwwrp



Category: K-pop, Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Chatting & Messaging, E-mail, Fluff, M/M, Pen Pals, Secret Crush, minho is a tv geek and chats with other geeks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-15 17:54:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 6,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28692810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yawwwrp/pseuds/yawwwrp
Summary: Minho joins a message board to talk about his favorite tv show since no one else wants to watch it. He meets someone who shares his interest and before he knows it, he waits for a message from his stranger every day.
Relationships: Bang Chan/Lee Felix, Han Jisung | Han/Hwang Hyunjin, Lee Minho | Lee Know/Seo Changbin, if you squint
Comments: 106
Kudos: 104





	1. "the shroogles died"

**Author's Note:**

> yooooo~
> 
> ok so  
> honestly i havent seen the movie you've got mail in like 10 years but i found it cute that someone could just get a crush over a couple emails (this is kinda how i ended up with my fiancee)  
> and so my brain came up with this
> 
> updates might be slower this week since i'm back at work, though i should still update once a day i think :)

One of these days, Minho would kill his friends. He was currently trying to watch the newest episode of his favorite show and he couldn’t hear a single word because half of his members were arguing about what to order for dinner. Multiple attempts at shushing them and several death threats fell on deaf ears and he felt a rage migraine coming on.

The episode ended without Minho understanding what had happened the past fifteen minutes and he stomped off to his room muttering curses under his breath, passing by a surprised Changbin in the hallway.

“What happened?”

Minho threw him a look. “Don’t ask.”

Chan shoved a slice of pizza into his mouth, mumbling around it, “We said sorry, Minho. Come on, eat your food.”

Minho heaved a sigh and picked up a slice as well. “Why won’t you guys watch the show as well? It’s the best thing since… pizza.”

“Your show is super weird and you’ve asked us to watch it for months now and we keep telling you now”, Hyunjin answered.

“You’re weird!” Minho had to admit the retort was childish but Hyunjin clearly didn’t understand anything about life.

He had rewatched the episode while waiting for the food to arrive, content to finally be up to speed with the storyline and was now focusing on eating dinner, trying to blend out the members making fun of him and his beloved tv show.

It sucked that none of them were into it and he felt sad about not being able to talk about it with anyone since the show had an admittedly small cult following and even their fans were not into it. 

Chan had once suggested to him to just find people online to chat about it with, which is exactly how he ended up on a message board at eleven at night reading through fan comment threads on the individual episodes.

Minho spent way too long arguing with other passionate watchers about theories on the recent plotline and eventually went to bed happy to have found other like minded fans.

Maybe Minho had to give Chan a gift basket or something. He had spent every night before going to sleep interacting with people on the message board and even made some friends on it, exchanging messages day by day.

In particular, there was one user on the website going by the name  _ Dark99  _ that Minho spent a lot of time discussing the show with - disagreeing on many points though agreeing on enough to have a fun back and forth every night. Right now, they were dissecting the relationship between the two main characters and Minho couldn’t hold back a laugh at Dark’s responses.

**_Dark99_ ** _ : you know, if you take into account the character development from the beginning of the show up to now, you have to ask yourself: are they really that stupid or did someone send them to the shadow realm in season 5 to steal their braincells? _

**_Ho_knows:_ ** _ i agree with you on that but consider this: what if it’s just foreshadowing? _

**_OMGWOW:_ ** _ get a room u two!!!1 _

Minho rolled his eyes at OMGWOW and clicked on Dark’s profile. There wasn’t a lot of information on it, just a short bio that made him crack a smile.

_ Please don’t ask me to introduce myself - or talk about season 3 (i will kneecap you if you do). _

He left a comment directly on Dark’s profile and turned off his phone, rolling over in his bed to get a good night’s sleep.

With the next day came a ton of work and Minho went from dance practice to interviews right after, not even thinking about the message board until the group finally arrived back at the dorm in the evening.

“I’m so tired”, Jisung flopped down on the couch, face buried in the pillows and let out a groan. “Just move me if I’m in the way.”

Felix just sat down directly on top of him and turned on the tv with Jisung muttering complaints into the couch that Felix ignored with a grin. “Does anyone wanna watch a movie with me?”

Minho checked his watch and shook his head. “I’ll go watch my show, the new episode came out two hours ago.”

He marched off to his room, Seungmin and Hyunjin calling him a nerd, and closed the door behind him to settle down on his bed with the laptop. Careful to avoid any spoilers, he navigated to the bookmarked stream page for the show and spent the next 45 minutes completely engrossed in the storyline unfolding before him.

When the credits rolled across the screen in front of Minho, he just sat there for a moment processing what happened. A minute later, he was already on the message board.

There was a notification that someone had replied to one of his comments and he clicked on it getting redirected to Dark’s profile.

Below the comment he had left the night before, Dark had responded.

**_Ho_knows:_ ** _ hey how did you like season 3? _

**_Dark99:_ ** _ i will fight you in the 7eleven parking lot >:( _

Minho let out a laugh as he went to his own profile. Maybe he should put something in his bio too but really, what was there to say?

He raised his eyebrows as his eyes were drawn to a comment left on the bottom of the profile.

**_Dark99:_ ** _ your bio really paints a picture of you! What a season 3 character thing to do, leaving it blank :/ _

He would get back to that - first of all, he needed to see what people thought of the latest episode. As Minho read through the comment thread for the last one, he thought his eyes would get stuck in his head from rolling them so hard. There were quite a number of people who clearly seemed to have misunderstood pretty much everything that happened and who were now arguing with the few fans that actually followed the plot.

**_imNOT6:_ ** _ are you dumb? this episode sucked, i wish they brought the shroogles back _

**_Dark99:_ ** _ the shroogles died if you had paid attention to the end of season 4 you would know that _

**_Angelgirl:_ ** _ whatever man, why don’t you get a life instead of ruining our wishful thinking _

**_Dark99:_ ** _ i’m not tho, i just wanted to clear that up _

**_imNOT6:_ ** _ where’s @Ho_knows can’t you just argue with them and leave us alone???? _

Honestly, Minho felt bad for Dark. Reading through the thread, he could tell that most of the people commenting completely missed the point of the episode and they were being rude to Dark for no reason.

**_Ho_knows:_ ** _ be friendly guys, Dark is right - bringing the shroogles back wouldn’t even make sense here. But i agree that the episode was not the best _

**_Dark99:_ ** _ thank god someone with a brain has joined the discussion _

Minho smiled at the comment though his happiness didn’t last long as the other users started heckling both of them for their differing opinions.

**_imNOT6:_ ** _ omg can u two just stop being annoying for one day pls _

He felt a sense of giddiness as he decided to bite back at them. 

**_Ho_knows:_ ** _ hey @Dark99 how’s your day been? _

**_Dark99:_ ** _ oh good thanks! Hope you had a nice one too! :D _

**_Angelgirl:_ ** _ omg leave!!!!  _

**_BR4510:_ ** _ did anyone notice the shadow man’s arm like half an hour into the episode? I think he might have been shot! _

Another notification popped up at the top of the screen and Minho clicked on it to see that he had received a direct message from Dark.

_ Hey there! :) I thought I’d write you here since I’m losing my faith in humanity in the comment thread - how’s it going? _


	2. "don't flatter yourself"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey everyone~
> 
> i hope you're all having a lovely time!  
> it's my second day back at work and i'm already wishing for another vacation :((
> 
> hope you have a fresh day/night! :D

Things were going great, if you asked Minho. They were currently putting finishing touches on their next album, dance practices were rough but rewarding and he had a message waiting in his inbox from Dark every day to look forward to when the day was done.

“Why don’t you hang out with me anymore?” Jisung was poking Minho’s side as they entered the dorm, sad to be rejected yet again. “We are drifting apart, Minho!”

Hyunjin kicked off his shoes, accidentally bumping into Jeongin in the process, who pouted at him. “I’ll join you for Mario Kart. Jeongin?”

Jeongin gave him a thumbs up and Jisung seemed to perk up as more and more of the members agreed to join for a game. Seungmin excused himself to call his parents and Changbin disappeared into his room to watch a movie instead, while the rest of the group settled down in the living room as Minho closed the door to his room behind him.

“I’ll be quiet, don’t worry”, Minho muttered to Seungmin as he opened his laptop and Seungmin called up his family. 

Minho put in earphones and switched his music to shuffle, checking the message board as he did every day.

It only took ten minutes for him to receive a notification for a new message he had received from his new online friend.

**_Dark99:_ ** _ Hi my friend! Today has been really busy for me and i’m pretty tired but i wanted to ask you about the theory you mentioned regarding the cliffhanger last week. I thought about it some more today and have to agree that you are right! On an unrelated note - I’m interested in what you are like, what you do/which hobbies you have and stuff! I for one really like working, watching tv and movies and hanging out with my friends even though they are strange. :P _

Minho found it hard to picture Dark, knowing next to nothing about him. He wondered if Dark was a guy, how old they were and what they looked like, though not knowing all of that was kind of exciting in a way.

**_Ho_knows:_ ** _ hey to you too! I’m glad you can agree that I was right (I always am) - admitting it is the first step! ;) I hope you can get some sleep, I’ve had an exhausting day as well. I can understand you wanting to know more about me since I am a very interesting and beloved person… I was gifted to the world in ‘98 and like watching tv & movies as well. I also like animals and have cats. And we have a lot in common as my friends are also very weird :) _

**_Dark99:_ ** _ don’t flatter yourself ;P i have a friend who really likes cats as well! I will go to sleep now but I hope you have a good night and i’m looking forward to talking more with you tomorrow!! _

“What are you smiling about?”

Seungmin’s voice ripped Minho’s attention away from the laptop as there was a break between two songs. He hadn’t realized he had been smiling for the past twenty minutes and smoothed his face into a blank expression.

“Nothing, just reading.”

Seungmin gave him a doubtful look but left the room without another word to join the other members in the living room. For a little while, Minho re-read the messages between himself and Dark and when he eventually closed the laptop to go brush his teeth, his lips were quirked up into a smile again.

With their fully packed schedule, Minho was actually too tired to do anything other than fall into his bed the next evening, foregoing any group activities or checking the message board, giving his body the rest it so desperately craved.

Finally having a day off was an absolute blessing. Minho tiptoed into the kitchen in the morning craving coffee and almost had a heart attack when he saw Jisung and Hyunjin snuggled up on the couch in the living room, not expecting anyone to be out of their rooms so early in the morning.

Minho just stood there staring at them for a moment, their limbs entangled, Hyunjin’s face buried in the crook of Jisung’s neck and he raised an eyebrow. Very interesting.

The sound of the coffee machine must have woken them up because a minute later, both Hyunjin and Jisung joined him in the kitchen with equally red faces asking for a coffee as well. Normally, Minho would love to tease them about it, though he felt weirdly zen today and decided to give them a break. Jeongin shuffled into the kitchen while they were sitting at the table a little later and let out a long yawn.

“Any plans for today?”, Minho asked and Jeongin shook his head, mirroring Jisung and Hyunjin.

“I’m gonna go shopping later”, Hyunjin mumbled half asleep. “Does anyone want to come along?”

Jisung agreed to come along and Jeongin was about to count himself in as well but Minho nudged him subtly in the side before he could say anything. Jeongin threw him a questioning look and Minho slightly shook his head at him. He was curious to see what was going on with Jisung and Hyunjin.

Their conversation was interrupted by a grumpy Changbin entering the kitchen grunting something about coffee. Jeongin scooted over a bit to make space for Changbin at the table who joined them with a steaming mug of coffee a minute later, running a hand through his messy bed hair.

“Woke up on the wrong side of the bed?”, Jisung asked and Changbin just pouted at him. He took a sip from the coffee, burned his tongue and yelped in pain which earned him an eye roll from Hyunjin.

“At least he woke up in his bed”, Minho mumbled with a smirk and was immensely pleased to see Jisung and Hyunjin’s flustered faces. He turned to watch Changbin blow on his hot coffee before risking another sip. “Bad day?”

Changbin shook his head but didn’t elaborate so Minho eventually gave up. As the rest of the members woke up and came into the kitchen, the first group of early risers made way for them and Minho settled down on the couch scrolling through his phone while Changbin sat down next to him, switching through channels to find something to watch.

Minho paid him no mind and opened the message board to find two notifications waiting for him.

**_Dark99:_ ** _ I saw your posting on the thread about the conspiracy plot line and have to applaud you on your observations - don’t let it get to your head though ;) I’m missing my family today - i don’t see them often enough. Do you have a good relationship with your family? _

**_Dark99:_ ** _ sorry if I was being too forward, we can just talk about the show again, ignore my last message _

Minho’s heart felt heavy at the words in Dark’s messages. He felt guilty for not replying to the first message last night, now Dark probably thought that Minho was ghosting him which was definitely not the case. It felt nice to chat with Dark, someone who didn’t know who he was. Uncomplicated, friendly, without any judgement.

**_Ho_knows:_ ** _ hi! I’m sorry, I was really busy yesterday and forgot to check my messages. I’m sorry that you miss your family - are you far away from them? You can always give them a call :) P.S. you’re not being too forward, it’s nice chatting with you _

There was a surreal feeling of anticipation rising in Minho, like texting your crush in high school and he had to shake his head for a moment to pull himself out of the weird headspace he was in.

Changbin was staring at him with a confused look. “You okay, man?”

“Fine”, Minho replied and turned his attention to the tv. “What the hell is this show?”

A lady was currently trying to shove a snake into a mailbox while a drunk Santa passed her by and Minho wasn’t sure what exactly was going on.

“Good question, I have no idea.”


	3. "some days don't feel real"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yooooo~
> 
> i just ate way too much takeout and want to take a nap :(  
> i'm really happy to see you guys are enjoying this story and i will do my best to work hard and make it a good one! :D
> 
> have a lovely day/night everyone!

Every single day, Minho would wait for a message and reply to it. Every single day, he would smile at the little jokes he read, would get worried if his friend was getting enough sleep, would try his best to ignore the nagging feeling in the back of his head that their conversations were no longer just about a tv show.

With each message, the picture of Dark in Minho’s head would get a little clearer. He seemed to be energetic, friendly, though Minho noticed that he never put himself first and struggled not being able to tell anyone about the hard times he would go through. When Dark confided in him for the first time about having a difficult time, Minho felt a swell of pride rise up in him. He felt special to be one of probably not very many people to see this side of Dark. And still, his heart hurt at the words.

**_Dark99:_ ** _ thanks again for listening to all my whining, i really appreciate it. i don’t want to bother my friends with this kind of stuff - you know, i don’t want to be a burden or anything. Please tell me to shut up if i get too annoying! _

**_Ho_knows:_ ** _ you’re not annoying :) i’m here anytime you need to talk. _

Minho closed his laptop with a sigh. He wished there was something more he could do than just extend friendly words through a screen.

“What’s with the glum face?” Chan poked his head into Minho’s room. “Want to go to the gym with me and Changbin?”

As they were warming up, Chan brought up the elephant in the room.

“What’s going on with Hyunjin and Jisung these days? They’re like… attached at the hip. Did I miss something?”

Minho thought back on the two of them snuggling on the couch and couldn’t hold back a chuckle. “Not sure. I saw them being all cuddly on the couch the other day though.”

One of Changbin’s joints cracked as he straightened up again. “Doesn’t it bother you?”

The question confused Minho. Why would it bother him? “What do you mean?”

“I mean… don’t you and Jisung have, like, a thing?”

The following laughter was way too loud and a handful of other people in the gym turned angry looks towards them as Minho tried to calm down again.

“What gave you that idea?”, he breathed out in between laughs. “We just hang out a lot together.”

Chan raised an eyebrow at him. “So why don’t you hang out anymore? Come to think of it, you’re mostly just glued to your laptop these days.”

Minho could hear the overprotective-dad-undertone in Chan’s voice and was quick to reassure him, “I just like spending some time with myself these days.”

“Hm… you’re always in a good mood these days too…” Chan scratched his chin in thought for a moment. “Are you seeing someone?”

Minho almost choked on his spit and was grateful for Changbin slapping the absolute shit out of his back to help him with his violent coughing fit. “What?”

Changbin shrugged. “He has a point though. Are you interested in someone?”

He had no reason to be flustered by that question, but Minho felt his ears grow hot so he just quickly shook his head. “Don’t be ridiculous. Shouldn’t we be more interested in Chan’s raging love for Felix anyway?”

It was Chan’s turn to stutter and act panicked and Minho was glad to have the attention off of him as Changbin reenacted a Chan and Felix Love Drama in the middle of the gym, earning the group some more annoyed looks by the elderly population of the gym this evening.

There was a warm mug of tea in one of Minho’s hands, a chocolate bar in his other and his laptop was balanced, fittingly, on his lap later that night. Everyone but Felix and him had gone to sleep already and Felix was currently busy browsing the Netflix catalogue so Minho didn’t pay him much attention.

Once he had finished the chocolate bar, he took a sip of his tea, letting it warm him from the inside as he scrolled through his messages.

**_Dark99:_ ** _ Don’t you think that some days don’t feel real? Like today I heard some news that were really fascinating to me and I was so surprised I felt like I got sent to a parallel universe. I had a nice day today though and I hope you had the same! :) _

Minho smiled at the words for a moment and he wasn’t entirely sure if he understood what Dark was referring to, but the message made him feel warmer inside than a hot cup of tea ever could.

**_Ho_knows:_ ** _ that sounds interesting, did you meet any bzarks in that universe?  _

He paused for a moment and eyed Felix, who was slowly nodding off on the other side of the couch. Minho nudged him gently with his foot to wake him up so he wouldn’t sleep on the couch and go to bed instead. Felix left him with a quiet goodnight as he dragged himself to bed and Minho turned his eyes to the screen again.

**_Ho_knows:_ ** _ off topic but have you ever been in a relationship? _


	4. "confidence is sexy"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yooo~
> 
> i hope you're all doing well! :D
> 
> sorry for the formatting issue in the other chapter, it should be fixed now! :(
> 
> have a super fresh day/night and enjoy!

Late at night, Minho realized two things. The one thing was that he still didn’t know Dark’s name or what he looked like. The other was much more important - he had developed a crush on someone who could very likely be an online predator.

He tossed and turned in bed for a while before grabbing his phone and checking his messages. And sure enough, he had received a new one.

**_Dark99:_** _that’s a strange question - i have but i am currently single. What about you?_

Minho’s heart did a flip without him wanting it to.

**_Ho_knows:_** _i am too. Is your ideal type Zatalina from season 1? ;D_

When in doubt, resolve an awkward situation with humor. Minho was just about to put his phone away, when he received a reply.

**_Dark99:_** _you’re still awake! Can’t sleep? And no, Zatalina is definitely not my type_

What the hell was that supposed to mean?!

**_Ho_knows:_ ** _ yeah, i guess you can’t sleep either? _

**_Dark99:_ ** _ correct! :D at least you’re keeping me company~ _

Minho almost let out a squeal but caught himself at the last second. He felt like a lovesick teenager but it felt too good for him to give himself a reality check.

**_Ho_knows:_ ** _ you’re a lucky guy ;) _

**_Dark99:_ ** _ confidence is sexy ;) _

Okay, enough was enough. His heart was racing and his palms were sweaty and Minho felt like he was in high school again. Tonight, he would just be happy about this. He had tomorrow to overthink and worry about this.

**_Ho_knows:_ ** _ you should go to sleep, it’s late… let’s chat again tomorrow :) _

**_Dark99:_ ** _ good night  _ _ ( ˘ ³˘)♥ _

As predicted, Minho spent most of the next day worrying about his current predicament. First of all, no one knew he was into guys. Secondly, he had never met Dark so who’s to say it wasn’t some creepy old man? And thirdly, as cute as Dark may be acting towards him, maybe it was just friendly teasing.

Chan must have sensed that something was bothering when he sidled up to Minho after dance practice.

“You okay? You seem a bit distracted today.”

Minho stared at Chan with wide eyes, unsure of what to say. “Uh, yeah. Just got a lot on my mind.”

Oh no, he had activated Chan’s dad mode. “Tell me.”

There was no getting out of this so Minho just sighed. “Uhm… my friend has feelings for someone. Someone they’ve never met. They’re just talking online.”

Chan smiled at Minho. “Okay, so what’s the problem?”

“Well, they’ve never met each other.”

For a moment, Chan gave it some thought before he replied, “So just tell them to call the other person. That way they’ll know they’re not being catfished.”

Huh. Minho had to admit he had a point.

**_Ho_knows:_ ** _ hey~ how are you doing today? _

**_Dark99:_ ** _ better now that I’m talking with you! ;) _

God dammit, Minho really needed to do something about his constant heart palpitations.

**_Ho_knows:_ ** _ I was wondering if maybe you’d like to video call some time? _

Minho stared at his phone for a few moments, but there was no reply. His brows furrowed and a sinking feeling overcame him. He fucked up.

With each passing day, Minho plummets more and more into a sad pit, waiting for messages but not receiving any. Felix tried to cheer him up with brownies a few days after Minho had sent the message to Dark and Hyunjin and Jisung offered to go to see a movie with him, though seeing the two make googly eyes at each other made Minho feel even worse.

Luckily, Changbin seemed to be in a bit of a slump as well, which Minho noticed as they both let their frustrations out at the gym one day.

“What are you so upset about?”

Minho gave him a look. “I could ask you the same thing. You look like Grumpy Cat.”

Changbin pulled a face at Minho’s statement but didn’t respond and so they ended up just working out in silence. Weirdly though, knowing that Minho shared his misery with someone else actually made him feel a little bit better. He hoped that was the case for Changbin too.

Later that day, Minho flopped down onto his bed, once again checking his phone in a futile attempt to conjure up a response from Dark by sheer force of will.

And maybe, just maybe, Minho had developed some kind of superpower overnight, because as soon as he opened the message board, he saw the little notification icon.


	5. "maybe some other time"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ayoooo~
> 
> wish me luck for my work presentation! :S  
> hope you're all eating well and getting enough sleep! 
> 
> have a super fresh day/night and stay safe! :D

**_Dark99_ ** _ : Hey, i’m sorry for replying so late - had a lot going on. Unfortunately I can’t call, I’m really sorry. I promise I’m not a creep though! _

Minho furrowed his brows at the message. He never thought about Dark as a creep though his unwillingness to call did seem strange. Was Minho being too pushy about it?

**_Dark99:_ ** _ seriously i’m not a perv :(( i’m really sorry! _

**_Ho_knows:_ ** _ that’s okay, maybe some other time :)  _

**_Dark99:_ ** _ ₍꒢ ̣̮꒢₎ so what did you think of last night’s episode? I thought it was weird that they ended it on such a gloomy note but since there’s only a few more episodes left of this season I hope there will be some resolution soon! _

Minho stared at his phone for a few minutes before sighing and rolling over in his bed. Something was off. Dark always wanted to talk about personal stuff and would jokingly flirt with him and now he was just back to strictly tv talk?

A little later, Minho willed himself to sleep, trying to ignore the nagging voice in his head telling him that he had made a big mistake.

Though Minho and Dark were chatting with each other again, their conversations were almost exclusively about the tv show now and to Minho, it seemed as if Dark was trying to put some distance between them. The thought made his chest ache and he tried to distract himself as best as he could.

A few days later, Minho was lounging around at the dorm reading a webtoon when Changbin nudged him in the side.

“Do you want to get coffee with me?”

Minho looked up at him from his phone and blinked a few times. “Now?”

A pout appeared on Changbin’s face. “You love your webtoon more than me?”

Shame on Changbin for guilt tripping him. Minho sighed and heaved himself off the couch, much to Changbin’s enjoyment.

The walk to the coffeeshop was a quick one and Minho raised his eyebrows when they entered. “Has this always been here? I don’t remember us ever coming here.”

“It just opened. Apparently it’s a new favorite spot among trainees and idols to like, date and stuff. For now at least”, Changbin explained as they reached the counter. He rattled off their order and Minho took the moment to look around the place.

It was fairly spacious and the booths were a bit separated so you would definitely have more discretion here. Minho understood why it was a dating place.

Changbin handed him his coffee and a sudden idea struck Minho. His thoughtful look was replaced by a wide smile and Changbin asked him if he was okay.

Minho was more than okay. Minho felt great.


	6. "even the tiniest chance"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyooo~
> 
> i just binge watched the entire first season of alice in borderland in one day and its AMAZING!!!!!!! i have a lot of thoughts and emotions lkdsghlskdhglsk
> 
> also all the comments you guys left (thank you again a thousand times i love reading them!!! :D <3) on the previous chapter made me rewrite the entire last chapter for this bc clearly i only have one braincell and it turned into two while i read your theories! :D
> 
> hope you guys enjoy and as always, have a super fresh day/night! :)

It was three in the morning but Minho couldn’t sleep, fingers tapping away on his phone while his roommates were in deep slumber.

**_Ho_knows:_ ** _ Hi! I hope you had a good day today! You’re probably asleep already - which is good, I hope you rest well :) I’m writing to you, well, basically I just wanted to say that I’m really happy I met you. Your messages brighten my day every time, no matter how trivial or important, short or long they are. I know it sounds ridiculous because I don’t know what you look like or if you’re really like this in real life (and not some perv) but I have feelings for you. Unfortunately, it is hard for me to make real connections with people in real life and even harder to keep contact, but you make me want to try my hardest. If you don’t feel the same way, I completely understand. But if there is even the tiniest chance that you have feelings for me too, I would really like to meet you in person. I hope you have sweet dreams and a great day tomorrow! _

Minho kept waking up every few hours, checking his phone for a message, but Dark must have still been asleep each time so he slept some more. When he woke up around noon the next day, half the dorm was already out and about running errands and meeting friends since they had a day off and only Felix, Seungmin and Changbin were still at home.

Felix and Seungmin had taken over the living room to play video games while Changbin was currently moping at the kitchen table, staring sadly at his ramen.

He forced a smile when Minho joined him with some toast and a coffee, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“You woke up late, huh?”

Minho took a bite of his toast, nodding. “Yeah, I was up late last night. Why are you so down?”

Changbin pulled a face and focused back on his lunch. “I’m not.”

“Sure and I’m the president. What’s up?”

After a long sigh, Changbin pushed the ramen away from him. “It’s nothing.”

Minho furrowed his brows at him. “You’re not going to eat that?”

“I’m not hungry.”

He watched as Changbin slowly walked back into his room and closed the door after him. Weird.

As the day went on, Minho’s mood darkened. Still no reply from his stranger. At dinner, Jisung nudged him in the side.

“Why do you keep checking your phone?”

Chan raised an eyebrow at him, a suggestive smile on his face. “Are you expecting a text from someone?”

Minho shook his head. “No… nothing. Just waiting for my webtoon to update.”

Jisung seemed satisfied with the answer and continued eating, but Minho felt Chan’s stare on him even though he avoided eye contact for the rest of the meal.

Everything was awful. Terrible. 

Minho had not received a reply to his confession for a whole week and had cried to an Adele song last night which he would never ever admit to anyone. Ever. Luckily, all he had to do today was put on a brave face for dance practice and then he could just hide away in his bed until the interview scheduled for next morning - their only schedule that day. Though that still didn’t make him feel any better. 

Maybe it would be best to just forget about his stupid internet crush and move on with life. He was a grown adult after all, god dammit.

Despite having made a promise to himself to pay no attention to his glaringly empty inbox, he still opened the message bored as soon as he entered his room in the evening.

And lo and behold, hell had frozen over, pigs were probably flying somewhere and the reckoning was near - because he had finally gotten a new message.

Minho subconsciously sucked in a breath as he tapped on the message, heart beating so fast that he was sure everyone in the dorm could hear it through the walls.

**_Dark99:_ ** _ Hi there, once again I have to apologize for leaving you waiting for a reply from me, I’m sorry. I’ve read your message countless times over the past few days - it was very moving. I have given it some thought and I would like to meet you too. Would it be possible for us to meet somewhere where there’s not a lot of people? I know how that sounds but I promise (again) that I’m not a creep. _

After reading the message over and over again, Minho exhaled the breath he didn’t know he had been holding, a ringing in his ears. Dark wanted to meet him!

Of course, this could mean three things: A) Dark was a perv after all and wanted to abduct him, B) Dark had feelings for him or C) Dark wanted to reject him in person. Out of these options, C was decidedly the worst one, Minho thought. At least if he was being abducted it would mean that Dark wanted to spend some time with him.

**_Ho_knows:_ ** _ Do you know the Café Noir downtown? We could meet there tomorrow if you are free :) _


	7. cheesecake and traffic jams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys!!! :D
> 
> why are weekends so short? :((  
> actually, why are days so short? i need like 45 hours in a day :/
> 
> hope you will enjoy this one as we are closer to getting to the end and stay safe everyone! :)

Even a thousand coffees couldn’t make Minho as giddy as he was the next day. Jeongin looked concerned when he couldn’t sit still through the interview they were doing and Felix asked him if he wanted some kind of relaxing tea but Minho’s mind was filled with Dark. 

He wondered what he would look like, what his voice sounded like, how it would feel to finally meet him and the day passed Minho by in a blur.

They had agreed to meet at the coffee shop Changbin had shown him the other day at six in the evening and the few hours between Minho showering at four and him finally meeting his stranger just didn’t seem to pass by.

_ I’m going out for coffee at Noir - if I’m not back by 9, call the cops _ , he texted Chan as he left the dorm after obsessing over what to wear for two hours. There was still time until six, he was way too early, so hopefully his nerves would calm down until then.

He stopped in his tracks when he saw Changbin sit down at a booth in the coffee shop. Fuck, this was terrible timing.

When Minho entered the coffee shop, Changbin’s head shot up though the smile on his face faltered when he saw that it was him.

“What are you doing here?”, he asked as Minho sat down next to him, eyes on the door as well.

“I’m waiting for a friend.”

Changbin hummed. “Me too. Let’s wait together, but you have to leave once my friend is here.”

“Fair enough.” 

They talked about work for a bit, their eyes darting to the door every time it opened, though neither Changbin’s friend nor Dark showed up. Minho checked his watch every five minutes but his heart sank a bit more each time. It was half past six already and there was still no sign of Dark.

“Your friend’s running late too?” Changbin had ordered a cheesecake and pushed it closer to Minho so they could share it. “Do you think it’s the traffic?”

Minho craned his neck to get a better view of the street outside. “Seems calm out there, maybe there’s a traffic jam somewhere else in the city?”

“Maybe.”

Minho couldn’t keep his disappointment off his face as time went on apparently because Changbin gave him a concerned look once they had finished the cake. “Why do you look so sad?”

Minho quickly tried to put on a smile but Changbin just raised a doubtful eyebrow at him. “Fine. I’m supposed to meet a friend on the internet here. But it seems that I’m being stood up.”

Changbin’s face went through a variety of different emotions for a moment and Minho found it hard to keep up with them until Changbin settled on a blank expression.

“Are you…” He cut himself off. “No, that’s ridiculous.”

“Am I what?”

There was a long pause before Changbin spoke again. “Are you  _ Ho_knows _ ?”


	8. fuel the fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi everyone!
> 
> i'm so sorry for not updating the past two days - i'm absolutely swamped with work and have had no time to write as well as having to deal with some anxiety :(  
> but i promise i'll try hard to get back to once a day!
> 
> the end of this one is short but still i hope you like it and thank you so much for enjoying this story and for all your lovely comments! :D
> 
> have an extremely fresh day/night~

Over the time that Minho had been chatting with Dark, he had imagined him many times. Sometimes he pictured him as a lanky geek, sometimes as a middle aged pervert, sometimes as a lumberjack that only got one tv channel in his log cabin and decimated trees with his bare hands.

What he had certainly not pictured Dark as was his long time friend, height challenged group member and general noise maker, Changbin.

For a long moment, Changbin and Minho were just staring at each other in silence until a waitress came by their table and ripped them both from their shock.

“Can I get you two a coffee or anything?”

Minho blinked at her. “Uh, not right now. Thanks.” His eyes followed her as she left the table before looking back at Changbin who was now sporting a deep blush on his cheeks.

“This is impossible”, Minho breathed out. “You’re Dark?”

Changbin swallowed hard. “The one and only.”

Minho’s thoughts were racing as he put two and two together. Of course. Even the name was obvious, how could he not have noticed? There were many things Minho wanted to say but what came out of his mouth was just a stumped question.

“I thought you didn’t like the show. You always said you never watched it.”

Changbin averted his gaze and fiddled with his ripped jeans. “The others made fun of you for it and I thought, you know, they already make fun of me all the time for everything else. I didn’t want to fuel the fire.”

Realization slowly settled in Minho and he thought about it for a moment. Knowing that Changbin was Dark - did it change what Minho was feeling? When he thought of Changbin, he felt comfortable and content. Changbin was a good friend, always lent his shoulder to cry for everyone when they needed him, always cheering people up even when he was sad, always  _ there _ . When he thought of Dark, his heart raced and he always felt happy to get his messages, an undercurrent of excitement.

Minho realized that he hadn’t said anything in a while and cleared his throat. “Changbin.”

“Hm?”

Minho nudged his arm to get Changbin to look at him. “Why did you come here?”

Changbin looked confused. “Ho- I mean, you asked me to come and I wanted to-” He trailed off, looking down at the table.

“Wanted to what?”

“I wanted to tell you that I already have feelings for someone else...” Changbin paused and glanced at Minho for a moment, shy and embarrassed. “Are your feelings still the same, knowing that it’s me?”

Minho felt his heart rate increase but willed himself to keep his cool. “You’re shorter than I imagined.”

Changbin lightly boxed his arm in response.

“Ow! Okay, okay. What I said in the message is exactly what I meant. Dark being you doesn’t change anything.”

His palms were beginning to get sweaty and he knew for a fact that his ears were red, but Minho promised himself not to look away from Changbin. His eyes widened at Minho’s reply and he bit his bottom lip nervously.

Changbin’s hand found Minho’s under the table, interlacing their fingers. “Good because the person I have feelings for is you, Minho.” 

The words were simple and they sounded beautiful to Minho’s ears as his lips curled into a smile, eyes crinkling, squeezing Changbin’s hand in his.

“Let’s get out of here so I can kiss you.”

**Author's Note:**

> please lemme know your thoughts!
> 
> have a super extra fresh day/night everyone! :D


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